Weekend Box Office Report: ‘The Heat’ and ‘White House Down’ Play Second Fiddle to Pixar

What happens when two new releases that look like sure-things smash into the unstoppable wall that is a Pixar movie? Well, you get one second place hit and one severe disappointment. ‘The Heat‘ still looks good next to the continued success of ‘Monsters University,’ but it made ‘White House Down‘ stumbling at the starting line look all the more horrible.

Film

Weekend

Per Screen

1

Monsters University

$46,180,000 (-44.0)

$11,533

$171,006,000

2

The Heat

$40,000,000

$12,575

$40,000,000

3

World War Z

$29,800,000 (-55.1)

$8,262

$123,722,000

4

White House Down

$25,700,000

$7,976

$25,700,000

5

Man of Steel

$20,820,000 (-49.6)

$5,040

$248,660,000

6

This is the End

$8,700,000 (-34.5)

$3,210

$74,681,000

7

Now You See Me

$5,500,000 (-30.2)

$2,145

$104,681,000

8

Fast and Furious 6

$2,410,000 (-51.1)

$1,555

$233,313,000

9

Star Trek Into Darkness

$2,040,000 (-35.6)

$1,971

$220,501,000

10

The Internship

$1,425,000 (-58.1)

$1,414

$41,705,000

With a $46 million second weekend, ‘Monsters University’ has made $171 million and should become the highest grossing animated film of the year so far sometime in the next week. Time will tell if it will have the necessary legs to get to $300 million (probably not), but $250 is looking like a sure thing at this point. Not bad for a movie that many people expected would be second-rate Pixar.

Although the adorable animated monsters kept it from snagging first place, there’s nothing at all disappointing with the second place finish of ‘The Heat,’ which debuted to $40 million. This is a big deal for three reasons: First, the film was modestly budgeted and it should already be turning a profit. Second, it’s R-rated and large openings aren’t guaranteed when kids can’t go see a movie. Finally, it’s a female-driven movie, which studios don’t often place a lot of faith in (because they’re stupid). This is director Paul Feig’s second hit in a row to star a bunch of funny women and we hope it’s only the beginning.

But what about the more traditional, male-oriented new release of week? Roland Emmerich’s ‘White House Down’ opened in fourth place with only $25 million, a rough start for such an expensive (and very entertaining) movie. It’s easy to blame ‘Olympus Has Fallen‘ for this mess. After audiences made that identical-in-concept White House siege movie a hit earlier this year, were they just not interested in the bigger, slicker version? It’s the only thing that makes sense, really. How could people not go see a big action movie from the director of ‘Independence Day’ starring Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx?! That’s the big question of the week.

Coming in right above ‘White House Down,’ ‘World War Z‘ took an expectedly large but not disastrous drop, grossing $29 million for a $123 million total. The zombie epic was extremely expensive and it’s looking like it may be a long haul to $200 million, but Paramount has put a lot of faith in this young franchise. If it can perform respectably (and pull in enough cash overseas), they’ll make the sequel. It’s going to be all about the third weekend.

In fifth place, ‘Man of Steel‘ grossed $20 million for a $248 million total. It’s already outgrossed both ‘Superman Returns’ and ‘Batman Begins,’ so it’s in a good place right now. Sure, it’s not going to do ‘Avengers‘ or ‘Iron Man 3‘ money, but Warner Bros. wasn’t expecting that yet … they’ll expect that for the sequel.

The bottom five of the top 10 is a little less exciting, filled mostly with movies that are on their last legs. The strongest among them is ‘This is the End,’ which grossed another $8 million for a $74 million total. Seth Rogen‘s ensemble comedy was made on the cheap, so the fact that it stands a strong chance of making $100 million is a major win. Below it, ‘Now You See Me‘ and ‘Fast and Furious 6‘ are just about to end their runs as major hits in their own little ways. Finally, the list is filled out with ‘Star Trek Into Darkness‘ and ‘The Internship,’ with the former being a solid hit and the latter being one of the bigger bombs of the summer.

Welcome back to Mix 93.1

It appears that you already have an account created within our VIP network of sites on .
To keep your points and personal information safe, we need to verify that it's really you.
To activate your account, please confirm your password.
When you have confirmed your password, you will be able to log in through Facebook on both sites.

*Please note that your points, prizes and activities will not be shared between programs within our VIP network.

Welcome back to Mix 93.1

It appears that you already have an account on this site associated with . To connect your existing account just click on the account activation button below. You will maintain your existing VIP profile. After you do this, you will be able to always log in to http://mix931fm.com using your original account information.